It's been a few years since I've posted on here but thought ah what the heck! My smoked salmon is a big hit so figured I would spread the love... I'm running a custom cedar smokehouse but basic propane/wood for smoke. I tend to stick with apple and cherry for fish so it's not too overbearing.
I use a pretty basic recipe my dad's firefighter buddies turned me onto called double duty brine. It's good for fish, game, beef, turkey... I add a few odds and ends to it for fish like sweet chili sauce, honey and some different herbs and spices. Johnny's hunters blend as well as their fish and seafood spice. That's about it though. I do take the time to take the skin, bones and fat off prior to brining though so you're left with a tasty lil morsel you can just drop right in the hatch.
Couple pics of the brine... Already looking good!
Now all this prep work took me close to 5 hours, mainly due to the smaller coho dissecting... A real pain in the rear! I finished up around midnight and left it in the brine about 14 hours. Was a little worried it soaked in too much salt, but the recipe really is spot on. I did cut ¼ of the salt out of the recipe for the batch of thin strips (coho) and it honestly had too little salt. Well I guess it depends on the person, but let's just say it turned out sweet. The chinook I kept to recipe and it turned out perfect as well. So after brine, I always set my product out to form the pellicle, although I don't know if it's needed.
As for smoker temp, I try to run it as low as possible so I can put some good smoke to it for about 2 hours. My temp guage starts at 100 so I'm not really sure what the temp is but I'd guess around 75. Once I get the smoke to it, I bump the temp up to finish it off, trying to stay below 110 or so. Once the chunks start firming up a little, it's time to pull em. The thin strips were done after the last bit of smoke, but the thicker pieces took another hour or so
Once it was done, I pulled it all off and had to set it out to admire the beauty.
So I ended up getting busy for the following day and a half so I covered it up and put it in the garage fridge. I'd recommend vacuum sealing it up sooner because it lost a ton of its juices (still moist and delicious but obviously not as much as it was)
This is by far my favorite smoked fish recipe and I also make deer and elk jerky using the double duty brine. I've tried wild turkey as well and it was also good, but it didn't really take much of the salt for some reason. Anyways, hope yall enjoyed the pics and hopefully someone can find this post useful. Happy smokin' ✌
I use a pretty basic recipe my dad's firefighter buddies turned me onto called double duty brine. It's good for fish, game, beef, turkey... I add a few odds and ends to it for fish like sweet chili sauce, honey and some different herbs and spices. Johnny's hunters blend as well as their fish and seafood spice. That's about it though. I do take the time to take the skin, bones and fat off prior to brining though so you're left with a tasty lil morsel you can just drop right in the hatch.
Couple pics of the brine... Already looking good!
Now all this prep work took me close to 5 hours, mainly due to the smaller coho dissecting... A real pain in the rear! I finished up around midnight and left it in the brine about 14 hours. Was a little worried it soaked in too much salt, but the recipe really is spot on. I did cut ¼ of the salt out of the recipe for the batch of thin strips (coho) and it honestly had too little salt. Well I guess it depends on the person, but let's just say it turned out sweet. The chinook I kept to recipe and it turned out perfect as well. So after brine, I always set my product out to form the pellicle, although I don't know if it's needed.
As for smoker temp, I try to run it as low as possible so I can put some good smoke to it for about 2 hours. My temp guage starts at 100 so I'm not really sure what the temp is but I'd guess around 75. Once I get the smoke to it, I bump the temp up to finish it off, trying to stay below 110 or so. Once the chunks start firming up a little, it's time to pull em. The thin strips were done after the last bit of smoke, but the thicker pieces took another hour or so
Once it was done, I pulled it all off and had to set it out to admire the beauty.
So I ended up getting busy for the following day and a half so I covered it up and put it in the garage fridge. I'd recommend vacuum sealing it up sooner because it lost a ton of its juices (still moist and delicious but obviously not as much as it was)
This is by far my favorite smoked fish recipe and I also make deer and elk jerky using the double duty brine. I've tried wild turkey as well and it was also good, but it didn't really take much of the salt for some reason. Anyways, hope yall enjoyed the pics and hopefully someone can find this post useful. Happy smokin' ✌
